nettle picture from wikipedia
Why: A woman was selling bags of stinging nettles at the market. Nettles!! Such a creepy green (thanks, Salad Fingers), how can anyone walk by and not buy some??
What: A pureed soup of onion, potatoes, and nettles. I used a Chocolate and Zucchini recipe, soupe aux orties.
Complications: Nettles are a weed that apparently hurt when you touch them. I know nothing about them, and wasn’t inclined to test it out. S didn’t think he was familiar with them either, until I told him they were orties and a dark cloud passed over his face. Apparently he has painful childhood memories involving overgrown French backyards and a vocabulary lesson in stinging weed names. Once he got over that, he (amazingly) stuck his hand in the bag of nettles to test their potency. There was a moment of anticipation when I wasn’t sure what I was going to have to do when he started screaming… but then nothing happened. S wanted to go get our money back, but we were hungry (and the market was closed) so we made dinner instead.
Result: Pretty good, but I admit it was a bit of a let down. I didn’t think the nettle flavor was that distinctive, though the leftovers were more flavorful a few days later. The soup was a very pretty bright green color, though. Much more vibrant than any other pureed greens soup. The picture doesn’t do it any kind of justice.
Les Ardoises 